What happened
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that negotiations with Iran are not close to producing an agreement, describing Tehran’s latest demands as unacceptable, outrageous, ridiculous, and unrealistic. His comments came ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting Monday with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has served as the primary intermediary between the United States and Iran throughout the war.
Iran has proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz if the United States ends its blockade of Iranian ports, lifts some sanctions, and halts its bombing campaign. Nuclear negotiations and remaining sanctions would be addressed later, according to reporting cited in the article. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called the plan the most reasonable proposal put forward so far.
American and Israeli forces began coordinated strikes on Iran on February 28. Rubio said two days after the war started that the United States knew an Israeli action would likely provoke an attack on American forces. The conflict has now lasted well beyond the four-to-five-week timeline Trump initially outlined.
The war has disrupted global energy supplies. Normally about one-fifth of the world’s consumed oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has restricted since hostilities began. U.S. Central Command said forces have redirected 147 commercial vessels complying with the blockade since July and disabled five merchant ships that refused. U.S. forces also fired on and disabled a commercial vessel on Saturday after it allegedly attempted to circumvent the blockade.
Trump said Sunday that new strikes on Iran are highly unlikely as long as negotiations continue to make progress, adding that the military has identified 38 bridges in Iran that could be struck within an hour if circumstances change. A U.S. official speaking on background told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the United States is in a strong position because of its control of the strait and the condition of Iran’s economy.
